A Hero's Reward (23 page)

“You don't have the backbone to
do it bitch.” Freddy spat, just before Margaret drove the top
of the broom handle into his eye socket. Freddy let go with his good
hand, clapping it to the red ruin of his eye socket, before starting
to slide and picking up speed. He disappeared from Margaret and
Greg's view just as Margaret began to pull Greg back inside the
house. Greg's last sight before he was all the way back inside was an
unmarked car with a flashing light on its roof pulling up in front of
his house.

Now it was Greg's turn to slide down
the wall and slump to the floor. Margaret knelt in front of him
saying something and putting a makeshift bandage on his shoulder.
Greg's brain wasn't processing her words at the moment. After a
minute he finally made them out:

“Greg, are you okay? Are you
alright?”

Greg's eyes focused, then he gasped
softly and pointed to the doorway. Margaret turned to see all three
children staring in shock at the scene in front of them.

“I'm not okay but I will be.”
Greg said softly.

“How long have you kids been
there? I thought I told you to stay in the car!” Greg said with
a bit more volume, and a wince from the deep breath he had taken for
the extra volume.

Christine was crying softly, Jack was
staring in disbelief, Ellen voiced the same concern that Margaret
had:

“Dad, are you okay? I saw him
stab you! Who was that?”

“That was
my
father.”
Jack said, “and he was trying to kill my mom! And he hurt Uncle
Greg!”

Christine's tears increased in volume.

Margaret was apparently torn between
going to comfort the children and staying with Greg.

“Go to them.” Greg said
softly, “they need you more than I do right now.”

Margaret hurried over to the children,
swept Christine and Jack into a big hug while answering Ellen's
question.

“Your dad said he'll be okay.
He'll probably need to go to the hospital though.”

Agents White and Brown showed up at the
doorway and Margaret moved the children aside to let them through.

“We got here as soon as we could.
It looks like it wasn't fast enough though, our suspect is dead on
your front lawn.”

Ben looked back at Margaret:

“You may want to get the children
out of earshot and not let them look out front either Ms. Chisolm.”

Margaret moved the children away,
taking them downstairs.

“What happened Greg? We've got an
ambulance on the way but they're busy today and they won't be moving
fast even when they have someone to spare to send here.”

Greg told them what had happened,
leaving out only Margaret's part at the end where she struck Freddy
in the face with the broom handle. In his story, Margaret had tried
to get Freddy to grab onto the broom since he was dragging Greg out
the window. Freddy's hands had slipped, probably from the ice and
snow, and he had fallen. The agents looked at one another but didn't
say anything before Greg remembered that they had already been on the
street when Margaret had hit Freddy with the broom handle and they
might have seen what actually occurred.

“Well, we won't know for sure
that he was the one that set up the explosion in Ms. Chisolm's house
but I'm thinking an attempt to kill her by hand certainly suggests
that he was. This should be a clear case of accidental death. If
anyone tries to push it beyond that, then you have a solid
self-defense case. If I have my way about it neither of you will ever
even have to show up in court.” Ben said.

“Thank you.” said Greg,
“Could you send Margaret and the kids back in? I want to give
the kids something to do, maybe snap them out of the shock they're
probably feeling. Plus I have a question for Margaret.” Greg
fumbled through his shredded jacket as he spoke, withdrawing a
somewhat battered ring case. When he found it he noticed that the
case had stopped one of Freddy's stabs and had a hole in its top.
When he opened the case, the ring was still in pristine condition
though.

Ben grinned as he noticed what Greg was
doing and he and Agent White went looking for Margaret and the
children.

Margaret and the kids came back into
the room hesitantly. Greg motioned them over.

“I need your help kids, I kind of
ought not move right now so I need you to do some things for me.
Ellen, go out to my truck. In the tool box in the bed of the truck
you'll find my big staple gun. Get it and bring it in to me. Please
listen to me this time, stay on the driveway and do NOT look in the
front yard.

Christine and Jack, I need the two of
you to find me the thickest blanket in the linen closet in the
hallway, okay? The blankets are all on the bottom two shelves. Get it
and bring it in here.”

The children hurried off to do their
tasks.

“What do you want me to do Greg?”
asked Margaret.

“What do I want you to do...”
Greg let the sentence hang in the air as he braced himself to move.

Greg painfully rose to one knee.

“I almost lost you again for a
third time and I've never truly had you yet Margaret. What I want you
to do? I want you to marry me.”

He slid the ring case out from under
the ragged coat where he had hidden it again as he waited for the
agents to send Margaret and the children to him.

“Will you marry me, Margaret?”
he said, popping open the battered lid of the ring case and turning
it towards her.

Margaret burst into tears and Greg
braced himself for rejection. Once she had stopped crying enough to
speak Margaret replied:

“Yes, yes I'll marry you! Is that
why you've been so withdrawn the last few weeks? I thought I had done
something to upset you.”

“I couldn't work up my courage to
ask you, I was too worried that you'd say no. I'm such a coward.”

“Your actions say otherwise Greg,
you'll never be a coward to me.”

As Margaret slid the ring on and found
that it fit perfectly Greg slumped back to a sitting position.

“How did you know what size?”

“I measured your ring finger with
a piece of string while you slept. I thought it would be close at
least, I'm glad it fits.”

The agents came back in then and Ben
shot a grin at Greg.

“Said yes, did she?”

Greg nodded.

“Well, let me be the first to
offer my congratulations then. Now, I'm sorry to spoil the moment but
we'll need to get statements from you both. It doesn't have to be
right now though, later today is fine. We already have your initial
statement Greg.”

The agents turned and started to leave
the room.

Once the agents were gone, Greg
whispered to Margaret telling her what he had said about her and the
broom. He also told her to tell them whatever she wanted. Their
stories could differ and no-one would think twice about it since
people interpret things differently when under stress.

The children showed up a moment later
with the requested items and Greg had Margaret cover the open window
with the blanket, stapling it in place.

“If the authorities okay it, I'll
see if Mack can come over and replace that this evening. We should
have the materials needed at the shop.”

“Greg, you need someone to check
you out, there's blood seeping through your bandage.”

“It's okay Margaret, Ben said the
ambulance was on the way but that they were busy and couldn't drive
very quickly. They'll get here as soon as they can. I hurt, a lot,
but I don't think there's anything life threatening wrong with me. I
can stand a little pain.”

The children were clustered around
Margaret and Greg, staying close for comfort. Within a few minutes
Ellen noticed the ring on Margaret's finger.

Ellen grabbed Maragaret's arm, tugging
her hand to where Ellen had a better view of the ring.

“Did he?”

“Yes, he did.”

“Well, I'll have to admit that my
dad is a normal guy now. It took someone trying to kill the two of
you to get him to propose. I'd heard that it takes a lot to get a man
to commit, now I know it's true.”

The attempt at humor was feeble, but
still drew a weary laugh from Greg and Margaret. Christine and Jack
didn't understand at all so Margaret had to explain it to them. When
she finished, Christine wrapped her arms around Margaret, clinging
tightly. Jack only said:

“Does that mean I can stop
calling him Uncle Greg?”

“Once your mom and I are married
you can call me dad if you want to Jack” Greg said.

Margaret smiled a weary smile at her
son.

“Good, because I need a dad, even
my father never really felt like a dad, he was just my father.”

Greg feared that eventually Jack would
understand the concept of death better and hold his biological
father's death against Greg and his mother. For now, though, Jack
seemed to be handling things fairly well.

The ambulance finally arrived and the
agents escorted the paramedics to the room. Greg was poked, prodded,
and generally checked out. They found the obvious stab wound and
quite a few small lacerations and gouges on his stomach and sides
from small shards of glass in the window frame. A second ambulance
arrived while they were checking him out. They loaded the body into
it and it left at a sedate pace without its lights and siren going.

Greg was told that he'd have to be
taken to the hospital. He was going to need stitches on the stab
wound as well as antibiotics and a tetanus shot if his wasn't up to
date. After asking Ben if he could get the window fixed and being
told yes he made a quick call to Mack and asked him if he'd come over
to do some emergency work. He also told him to call Margaret's number
to get the whole story when Mack asked what was up. Mack was
persistent in trying to find out what had happened until Greg told
him he couldn't talk on his cell phone in the ambulance he was about
to be loaded into. Then Mack simply said:

“Oh... What was Margaret's number
again?”

Once at the hospital he went through
the verbal inquisition that conscious people received before
treatment. They got him out of the waiting room and as he was being
stitched up they mentioned the antibiotics and the tetanus shot
again. He managed to avoid the tetanus shot by pointing out he worked
construction and always kept that one up to date. There was no muscle
damage from the stab although a bone was chipped. He was told that
he'd have to keep it in a sling and unused for at least a week while
it healed. He was not required to stay overnight for observation but
they wanted to see him in a few days to check on the wound and the
sutures.

A quick call to Margaret and he
guaranteed himself a ride home. She told him that Mack was working on
replacing the window and that he had brought Eileen over with him
when he came. She had told Mack that the kids saw the whole thing
when she had explained the situation and he had thought they might
like an older person, that wasn't yet an adult, to talk to as well.

When he arrived back home Greg called
his boss and told him he was going to have to take more time off of
work. He was worried his boss was going to explode and maybe fire him
but once Greg had told him the story of what happened he went silent.

“You know what Greg? I'm giving
your crew to Bernie. You're going to work in the office this week,
I'll start teaching you what you'll need to know as a partner. You'll
keep doing that until we have the extra guys we need for the new crew
and then you'll take them, finish their training and start working
with them while you continue to learn what you need to know in the
office. We'll find a way to keep you out of trouble. Just see if we
don't.”

“Oh and boss? While I'm asking,
I'll need some more time off at an unspecified date in a few months.”

This time he heard real exasperation in
his boss' voice.

“What is it this time?”

“She said yes.”

There was a long pause as his boss
figured out what he meant, then he heard laughter from the other end
of the phone.

“You must not be too bad off this
time if you're yanking my chain like that. No, I don't mean that I
don't believe you asked her, I just mean the way you presented it.
You can be a right pain in the butt Greg, even if you are a good
worker. But you got me with that one. Yes, I'm sure we can arrange
time off for you to have a honeymoon.”

“Last request boss. We haven't
set a date yet or anything but I don't have that many close friends
right now. Would you stand up with me as my best man?”

“I'd be happy to Greg. That you
can
quote me on. And Greg, since you'll be a partner now and
I'm going to be your best man, would you please start calling me Paul
instead of boss?”

“Sure bos... I mean Paul. I can
do that.”

“We'll see you Monday morning at
the office, be there at eight o'clock. As soon as the crews head out
I'll start showing you my end of the business.”

The rest of the winter passed as
uneventfully as life can when you're raising three children. Margaret
and Greg decided on a June wedding, tying their lives together
officially just as spring was turning to summer.

Paul stood as best man for Greg while
Ellen and Jodi, one of Margaret's co-workers, were her bridesmaids.
Christine was made flower girl while Jack was the ring bearer. It was
a church wedding with all the trimmings. When Greg found out that
Margaret's marriage to Freddy had been a simple one done by a Justice
of the Peace he decided that, with her permission, theirs would be a
full church wedding with all the extras. Even though neither of them
were very religious, she quickly agreed.

Margaret's family was unrepresented at
the wedding except for herself and Jack. The friends she had been
making ever since she broke out of her shell took up the slack
though. Greg's side of the church was filled with his two siblings,
their families, and most of the people that worked for Paul's
company. Greg was well liked and known for being fair to a fault so
all of the crews wanted to share in his special moment. Paul mock
griped about having to shut the business down for the day but it was
clear to everyone that he was joking.